Lusine could still remember the day they’d first learned of the world above their own. They couldn’t have been much older than six or seven years old at the time, and they still remembered the feeling of running barefoot through the mud behind the church. They ran as fast as their tiny legs would carry them, laughing and shouting with glee. They thought they’d kept a good lead on their friend, right up until they felt a hand on their shoulder.

“Got you!” came the voice of their friend behind them as the hand pushed against their back and sent them falling face-first. The next thing Lusine knew, they were sprawled on the ground with mud covering their face and their clothes. They pushed themselves up from the ground and heard the laughter of their friend next to them.

“Terra!” Lusine turned to pout at their friend, the brunette girl who had so far managed to only get mud over her small boots and her legs. “You pushed me too hard!”

“No I didn’t,” Terra answered with a toothy smile and hands on her hips once her laughter had settled down. “It’s not my fault you fell. C’mon, you’re it, you gotta chase m—”

Before Terra could finish her sentence, Lusine had grabbed a handful of mud from the ground and, with a devilish smile, shoved all of it over the front of Terra’s shirt. Terra let out a surprised shriek and Lusine said, “That’s what you get!”

“Oh yeah?!” Terra dived at Lusine, and in the next moment, the two children were rolling about in the mud, their laughter and playful shouts echoing through the air and off the cavern ceiling above.

“Children,” a new, stern voice said. Both Lusine and Terra froze solid. The two of them sat up to see the robed figure of Bordeaux walking towards them from the cobblestone pathway that led from the back of the church through the land behind it. On this day, when cavern mist had left the dirt of the ground damp and soft, Bordeaux’s white robe and beard stood out in the soft orange light provided by the large lanternflies that fluttered through the air above. “When I gave you permission to play outside, it was not so I could return you to your parents covered in mud.”

“Aww!” Terra and Lusine objected in unison.

“But, but Bordeaux,” Terra said, “Lusine’s the one that got mud on me!”

“What?!” Lusine crossed their arms. “Nuh-uh, Terra started it!”

“I do not want to hear who started it,” Bordeaux said. “Come now, let’s go inside so that Ellia can have the both of you cleaned up.”

“Fiiine,” Terra said as Bordeaux led the two back to the church’s doors. Lusine looked back at the tracks of mud they left over the smooth marble floors which would need to be cleaned up later. Oops.

Bordeaux and the children found Ellia in one of the church’s back rooms. She was in the middle of sorting through boxes of supplies that were kept both for sermons and for rituals. As another priestess of the church, she was always running around the place helping with this or that, or studying texts of Aethaera’s teachings. It all sounded so boring to Lusine.

The moment Ellia looked back from one of the boxes and saw Terra and Lusine, she didn’t need to hear a single word. “Well then,” she said, “I think we should have some extra clothing around here that you both can borrow. Let’s take a look, shall we?”

“I’ll leave the both of them in your hands then, Ellia,” Bordeaux said, allowing Ellia to take the children along on the search for something less coated in mud.

While the dark-haired young woman checked through a trunk in one room for fresh, child-sized clothing, Terra bounced on her tiptoes eagerly. “Ellia! Can you tell us the story about the surface?”

Lusine, previously studying the shapes the mud made on their top, looked up with sudden interest. “The… surface?”

“Again?” Ellia said. “But I’ve already told you that one. And honestly, it’s a bit scary for your age…”

“But Lusine hasn’t heard it yet,” Terra objected. “Right, Lusine?”

Lusine tried to remember the word “surface.” They were fairly certain their parents must have said it once or twice now that they thought back on it, but they didn’t know what it meant. They nodded along with Terra and said, “I wanna hear!”

“Well…” Ellia frowned a bit, but said, “Alright, alright.” She finally pulled some clothes that would be small enough from the trunk. “Here, let me get the both of you dressed while I tell you, then.”

Terra smiled and looked at Lusine as if telling them that they were in for a treat.

“This is a story from back when I was a little girl,” Ellia began as she set to work with Terra first.

“That must be really long ago,” Terra said with a mischevious smile.

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Ellia feigned offense. “I will have you know, I am not that old.” Then, leaning closer to the children, she whispered, “Bordeaux, on the other hand, is that old.”

Lusine and Terra giggled.

“Now, as I was saying. Back then, the place we all lived in was different. We lived up on the surface, above all these caverns and tunnels. Up there, there was no ceiling, only the great blue sky with the sun in the daytime and the stars and moon at night. The days were so bright, and our towns were so big we had to ride around on horses and wagons to get from one place to another.”

Lusine was already confused. Above the caverns? Where was that? They looked out the window of the room they stood in, seeing only the subterranean walls and ceiling of stone that surrounded the buildings of their village. The word “sky” was familiar, everyone always said Aethaera was the god of the sky, but Lusine had never questioned what the word actually meant. It just had something to do with the gods, didn’t it? “What’s a wagon?” Lusine wondered.

“Oh… That’s right, you’ve never seen one, have you, Lusine? These days, we mostly use them for transporting heavy supply shipments instead of people. If your parents ever take you to the lower districts of town, I’m sure you’ll see them in the markets.

“But, then,” Ellia continued, her tone growing wistful and her expression distant, as if recalling an old memory, “well, things changed. One day, a star fell from the sky, and with it came the shadows.”

Both Terra and Lusine listened quietly with wide eyes when Ellia mentioned that part.

“When that star fell, it was followed by shadows that blocked out the sky. I still remember… I was out with my mother on a stroll, and suddenly, the sky grew dark as if the sun had vanished… And then… there were the demons.”

“Demons?” Lusine said, their voice quiet as if such a creature would appear just by saying the word.

Ellia sighed softly. “Yes, that’s right… Awful things. It’s because of them that we all had to hide underground.”

“But that’s why we have the Hunters and the Resto… Restorer Guild!” Terra said excitedly.

“The Restoration Guild,” Ellia corrected with a gentle smile. “Yes, that’s right, Terra.”

Terra beamed at the praise.

“Hunters keep us safe by fighting the demons on the surface, and any dangerous monsters that might show up down here. And it’s the duty of the Restoration Guild to explore the surface so that we can learn about what it’s like now and take it back from the demons.”

“Isn’t that amazing, Lusine?” Terra said. “The Restor… a… tion Guild is gonna make it so we can see the sky again! I wanna do that!”

Lusine still didn’t fully understand what this “sky” was, but their friend’s excitement was so infectious they couldn’t help but nod in enthusiastic agreement. “Me too! I wanna go up to the surface with the guild and fight the demons! Oh! Ellia, is that why I’m an astra?”

“Oh…” Ellia paused for a moment, thrown off by the question, but her warm smile returned. Astra, children born with the blessings of gods. Lusine had stood out as one from the moment they were born judging by their golden yellow eyes that nearly matched their soft, pale blond hair. “It very well could be, Lusine. Maybe Aethaera sent you to us so you could do just that.”

“You think so?!” Lusine practically shouted with glee.

A knock on the door interrupted the conversation just as Ellia had finished changing both of the children out of their mud-stained clothing. She stood up and opened the door, greeted by Bordeaux. “Ellia,” he said, “Miss Terra’s parents are here to take both children home.”

“Oh, of course,” Ellia said. “I’ll have the clothing bundled up for cleaning.”

“Bordeaux!” Lusine ran up to the elderly priest, with Terra only steps behind. “Ellia was telling me and Terra about the surface and the demons and the Restoration Guild!”

“Oh, was she now?” Bordeaux said, smiling along with the excitement.

Terra nodded. “Uh-huh! We’re gonna join the Restoration Guild together and fight demons!”

Bordeaux’s smile faded. “I see… Miss Terra, why don’t you run along to your parents while I have a talk with Mi — ah, with Lusine?”

It always frustrated Lusine at that young age that they lacked the vocabulary or the understanding to explain why it bothered them to be called those gender-specific titles like “Miss” or “Mister” and the like, so they were glad Bordeaux listened anyway. Even if he was a stuffy, no fun old man otherwise.

Terra frowned at Bordeaux’s request. “How come? I can wait for Lusine!”

“Oh, it will be very quick, not to worry,” Bordeaux said. “Go on for now.”

Terra gave a last look at Lusine before saying, “I’ll let my parents know, don’t take too long!” before running off.

“Come now, little one.” Bordeaux led Lusine out into the hallway, away from Ellia. “Now, there is something I would like for you to understand, Lusine.”

Lusine looked up at Bordeaux.

“We think very highly of those who go on to join the Restoration Guild. Their work is important, and all of Yewbrook is grateful to the knowledge they’ve protected and recovered. It’s largely their efforts that have made it possible for us to continue life underground.” He paused and looked out one of the wall windows in the hallway. “That said, of course… Our work in the church is just as important in its own way. By communicating the will of Aethaera to the people, we do much to guard their spirits.”

“Their spirits?” Lusine asked, not quite following what it was that Bordeaux meant.

“It is something that you will come to understand as you grow older. What I wish for you to understand is that the work the Restoration Guild does is very dangerous. And you… You are very important to Yewbrook, Lusine.”

“Cause I’m an astra?” Lusine said, proud of that word even without a full understanding of what it meant. Every time someone else mentioned it, they always seemed happy, after all.

“Yes, that’s right. Because of that, it’s for the best if you leave the Restoration Guild’s work to other people.”

Lusine’s face fell. “But, I want to see the sky with Terra.”

“We all do, little one. And we will one day, I am sure. But there’s so much you can do here in the village. You have, perhaps, the most power to guard the spirits and the hope of the people. We can’t allow anything to happen to that.”

Lusine frowned, staring up at Bordeaux in silence as they tried to understand what it was he was saying. Seeing the obvious confusion on Lusine’s face, the man shook his head and said, “Ah, perhaps it is too early to have this discussion with you. I apologize, Lusine. Run along now, forget I said anything.”

“Alright… Goodbye, Bordeaux.” Lusine turned and ran down the hallway to catch up to Terra. The conversation had left them confused, so for now, they’d pay little mind to it.